


Chuck vs the Close Call

by torigates



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-18
Updated: 2010-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-13 18:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/140339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Morgan’s voice seemed overly loud as the weary members of Team Bartowski returned to Castle after another (barely) successful mission.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chuck vs the Close Call

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tvconnoisseur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvconnoisseur/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, tvconnoisseur! I was really excited to write for Chuck. I tried to incorporate your requests as best I could. Hope you like it!

“I can’t believe you used me as bait _again_.”

Morgan’s voice seemed overly loud as the weary members of Team Bartowski returned to Castle after another (barely) successful mission.

They had been assigned to stop an international arms dealer from making another exchange. The plan had been for Chuck to go in undercover as Carmichael and pose as the buyer. Unfortunately, one of the henchmen had made him as a CIA operative and everything had very quickly and messily gone to hell. At the last minute, Casey had thrown Morgan into the mix, hoping he would appear as an easy target, and a distraction so that Casey and Sarah could swoop in and take the ammunition.

He was.

There were several gun and hand-to-hand fights, followed by close calls for everyone involved, but in the end, good triumphed over evil as it was wont to do. The free world was safe for another day.

Still, Morgan was not pleased.

“You promised you wouldn’t do that again!” Morgan berated Casey, who ignored him, already focused on the proper cleaning and storing procedures for the guns. “He promised he wouldn’t do that again,” Morgan said turning to Chuck.

Chuck, Sarah and Morgan gathered around the table, dropping their gear. They looked and felt tired and sweaty. “I know, buddy,” Chuck said, and placed a reassuring hand on Morgan’s shoulder.

“I hate being bait!” Morgan whined.

“It was a necessary risk,” Casey grunted, still focused on the guns, his back turned to the group.

“Necessary!” Morgan’s voice was high pitched. “‘Necessary risk,’ he says. A little warning would be nice!”

Casey grunted.

“I’m sorry, Morgan,” Sarah told him. She was sitting at the table, her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, and dirt streaked across her face. There was a bruise growing on her cheek where one of the bad guys had landed a lucky punch. “It was a last resort. We weren’t planning on it.”

“You knew about this?” Morgan asked, turning to face her.

Sarah had the grace to look properly remorseful.

“And you,” Morgan said, whirling around to face Chuck. “Did you know about this too?”

“Buddy, I swear I didn’t!” He paused. “Well, Sarah told me about it at the last minute, but before that, I didn’t.”

“I see,” Morgan said, no longer sounding irritated, but eerily calm. He turned and walked out of Castle.

“Morgan!” Chuck called after him. Morgan didn’t slow down; he continued to mount the stairs, showing no indication that he had even heard his best friend’s words.

“Let him go, Bartowski,” Casey said without looking up from his guns. “I’ll talk to him after he’s calmed down.”

“You will?” Chuck asked, and exchanged a look with Sarah.

“Yeah,” he grunted. “Don’t make a big deal about it.”

“Okay, okay,” Chuck said, holding his hands up.

The three of them finished storing the equipment, and then Casey walked off without a word.

“Is it just me, or was that extremely weird?” Chuck asked after he was gone.

“That was extremely weird,” Sarah agreed.

“I feel awful,” Chuck said, dropping into a seat, and putting his head in his hands.

“I know,” Sarah told him, walking across the room and putting her hand on Chuck’s back, rubbing reassuring circles. “We really didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“I know. And I know you and Casey wouldn’t have made that decision if it weren’t necessary. I still feel awful,” he told her, and leaned against her. She continued to rub his back.

“It comes with the job,” Sarah reminded him. “Danger.”

“I know that too,” he said. “Boy, do I know that one.”

He leaned his head back against her body, looking up at her. They shared a small smile.

“I guess part of me just wishes that part of my life, Morgan, Ellie, could be kept out of it. Safe.”

“I know.”

“It doesn’t work that way, does it?”

Sarah smiled sadly.

“I mean, look at my parents. They tried so hard to keep us safe, to keep us out of the spy world, but we just keep getting sucked back in.”

Sarah didn’t say anything. “They wanted to protect you,” she offered after a long moment of silence.

Chuck nodded. “Maybe the only way to really protect someone is to let them choose,” he said. “Maybe you can only give them all the information and let them make an informed decision.” He sighed.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

He put his arm around her, pulling her close. “It’s okay,” he said.

They sat like that for a long time.

“I wonder what Casey is saying to Morgan,” Chuck said eventually.

“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I’m not sure I want to know.”

He chuckled. “Let’s go home.”

Sarah smiled. She stood and offered him her hand. He took it, and the two of them left Castle.

 

  
**+++**   


 

Upstairs, Morgan could hear the sounds of Casey making his way through the Buy More. Dodging Jeff and Lester and whatever idiotic scheme they had going this week, he finally managed to track Morgan down in the back room. “Grimes,” he said in greeting.

Morgan was sitting in the cage, his knees drawn up against his chest, his arms folded over them, his head back against the cool metal wiring.

Morgan opened his eyes to see Casey standing in front of him. Feet apart, arms crossed over his chest. Morgan had to crane his neck back even further to see John’s face. From this angle, he looked terrifyingly huge.

“What do you want?” Morgan muttered.

Casey sighed and rolled his eyes. “I want to talk to you, idiot.”

“Well, maybe I don’t want to talk to you,” Morgan shot back. “Did you ever consider that?”

“I dream about that daily,” Casey said easily. “Now get up off your ass.”

Morgan didn’t move.

“ _Now_ ,” Casey said.

Morgan couldn’t help it. He stood.

“That’s better.”

Morgan crossed his arms and looked away. Stupid Casey with his stupid muscles and his stupid height. Well, he wasn’t going to intimate Morgan out of his righteous anger. Morgan was _determined_.

“I’m sorry,” Casey said.

Morgan’s head snapped up. “ _What did you say_?”

Casey huffed and rolled his eyes. “I won’t say it again, Grimes.”

Morgan shrugged. “Fine. Whatever.”

“We’re partners,” Casey said. Morgan tried hard to ignore the fact that it seemed to physically hurt Casey to say those words. “Now that Bartowski and Walker are an item, and he’s got the Intersect back, they’re partners.”

Morgan couldn’t help it. He babbled when he was nervous. “I know! And I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m super happy for them, especially after years of will-they, won’t-they Chuck and Sarah deserve to be happy together. They’re in love after all. But I mean, sometimes, only sometimes, I feel like Sarah’s stolen my best friend away from me, you know? Like they’re the real partners now, not only as a spy team, or as boyfriend and girlfriend, but in life. The way that I always thought Chuck and I were and would be forever.”

Casey groaned. “Would you stop talking please?” he bit out each word, and Morgan shrunk back against the cage fence.

“Sorry,” he muttered, leaning back against the cage wall. “I was just agreeing with you.”

Casey grunted. “As I was saying,” he continued when Morgan shut up. “Bartowski and Walker are partners now. That leaves you and me.”

A slow smile spread over Morgan’s face and he turned to look at Casey again. “John,” he said. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Casey groaned his ‘why me?’ groan, which was different than his ‘shut your mouth’ groan, or his ‘I’m going to hurt you,’ groan. “I can’t promise to never use you as bait again,” he said. Morgan opened his mouth to argue, but Casey held up a hand stopping him. “I promise to tell you about it before we do.”

This, Morgan felt, was as good an offer as he was going to get. “Deal,” he said, holding out his hand. Casey shook it.

 

  
**+++**   


 

When Morgan opened the door to their apartment, Chuck was waiting for him. He tried hard, and failed, not to let the look of apprehension and guilt on Chuck’s face make him feel better.

“Listen, buddy,” Chuck started. And suddenly, that was enough. He knew how hard Chuck had been working these last months, these last years, really, to make the spy thing and normal guy thing work together. How hard Chuck had been working to make all the components of his life come together in a cohesive way. Morgan wasn’t going to be the one to get in the way of that. He wasn’t going to be the one to cause Chuck more grief than he had already suffered. It was enough that Chuck was sorry. Suddenly, he didn’t need to hear Chuck say it.

“It’s okay,” Morgan told him, cutting off his apology. He walked into the apartment and closed the door behind him.

“No, it’s not okay, Morgan,” Chuck told him, rising from the couch and walking across the room so he could face Morgan. “I feel terrible. I should have warned you. I remember what it was like when I was first starting out as a spy, how scary it was feeling like I didn’t know anything and always being left in the dark by Casey and Sarah. I don’t want you to feel like that. You’re a member of the team.”

“Thanks, Chuck,” Morgan said. “That means a lot to me. I know I don’t have the Intersect like you, or lots of spy training like Casey and Sarah do, but I do have a lot of experience at being your best friend. I just want you to treat me that way.” He put his keys on the table, and walked into the kitchen, pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.

Chuck smiled. “I can do that, buddy,” he said, following behind Morgan. “And listen, no more being bait. I’ll talk to Casey and Sarah, we can figure other ways out.”

“No need,” Morgan told him with a grin. He leaned against the counter, and enjoyed the perplexed look on Chuck’s face. He took several long gulps of water from his glass.

“What? No really, Morgan,” Chuck told him, and began to pace back and forth across the kitchen, making animated hand gestures. “You’re a member of the team, and I want Casey and Sarah to treat you that way. Just let me talk to Casey—”

“Casey and I worked it out already,” Morgan said, interrupting Chuck before he could get any further on his tirade. Not that Morgan didn’t appreciate that Chuck was willing to go on a tirade for him.

“You did?” Chuck asked incredulously. He stopped pacing and turned to face Morgan.

“We did.” Morgan grinned again. He put his now empty glass in the sink and walked out of the kitchen. Morgan had to admit, he was maybe getting a little too much enjoyment out of being the one in control for once. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the lengths that Chuck was currently going to in order to make things up to Morgan, it was just that he was so used to being the one in the dark, so used to being the one who had no clue what was going on, not only with the spy world, but in his best friend’s life. It was nice to see those roles reversed, if only for a minute.

“What did he say?” Chuck asked. He sounded so hesitant and tentative that Morgan took pity on him.

“He promised to always tell me when I’m going to be used as bait.” Morgan laughed at the horrified expression on Chuck’s face. “I’m okay with it,” he said. “Really. That’s part of being a spy. Danger, all that comes with it.”

Chuck smiled. “I guess it is,” he said with a shrug. “So we’re cool?”

“We’re cool.”

“Halo?” he asked.

“Definitely.”


End file.
